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Siemens Provides Abengoa's Hybrid Biorefinery Project With VFDs

ControlGlobal.com
12/18/2012

Siemens is providing variable frequency drives (VFDs) to Abengoa, to support a $450 million cellulosic ethanol plant under that is under construction.

Abengoa, based in Spain, is an international developer of renewable energy solutions.

The energy self-sufficient plant, located in Hugoton, Kan., will be one of the world's first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol facilities.  The facility is under construction and will have the capacity to produce 22 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol annually from agricultural residues, prairie grasses and other similar plant material waste products.The plant is scheduled to open near the end of 2013 and will consume an estimated 1,100 tons of biomass product daily. It will also produce 20 MW of electricity through a co-generation operation.

Siemens will provide five Robicon Perfect Harmony Drives, manufactured in New Kensington, Pa., including one Gen IV 2,500hp, one Gen IV 1,250hp and three GenIII 600hp medium voltage drives.  The Siemens drives will be used to support the plant's induced draft fans, forced draft fans and digester feed screws.

Siemens Robicon Perfect Harmony Drives work well in the power generation industry because of their ability to ride through voltage dips, small footprint, and they require no output transformer, harmonic line filters, or power factor compensation.

These VFDs are unique, as each uses a series of low-voltage cells linked together and scaled precisely for a wide range of voltage and output power.  The cell bypass ensures automatic bypass of a failed power cell in less than 500 milliseconds and instead of shutting down the entire drive, a process-tolerant protection system (ProToPS) provides a hierarchical system of warnings.  This control strategy allows time to evaluate the situation and respond appropriately.  This concept also enables easy access to drive components for scheduled maintenance. Siemens VFDs also meet IEEE 519 standards for input power harmonic distortion.

Abengoa's project site is located on 385-acres in Stevens County in southwestern Kansas.  This project is supported by a $133.9 million federal loan guarantee from the Department of Energy and an equity commitment from Abengoa.  Upon completion, the plant is projected to have 65 permanent employees, with an annual payroll of approximately $5 million.

Get more information about Siemens Robicon Perfect Harmony Drives.